NSPCC casts doubts on social services

Britain's social services workers may not be experienced enough to properly ensure child protection, according to a spokesperson for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Wes Cuell's comments came in the wake of the sentencing of a couple to 22 years in prison for torturing their four-year-old disabled daughter by scalding her hands, kicking her in the groin and forcing her to eat her own faeces.

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A 53-page report from the Local Safeguarding Children Board has said that social workers should have done a more in-depth assessment before placing the girl in the care of her parents.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight, Mr Cuell said: "Assessments are an important part of the process; gathering the information, making sure you have all the facts straight. But someone has to look at those facts and information and ask the question 'what does this tell us?'

"That comes down to decision making and judgement. Judgement is a combination of knowledge and experience."

The child in question had been placed in foster care, but was returned to her parents, over the objections of her foster carers.

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